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Building a 251/7 Pioneer

pigments

The next stage was to apply pigments. I chose MIG’s European dust for the tracks and wheels, scrubbed in using an old brush. I’ve tried using various rust pigments but they always appear to be far too ‘red’. Some scratches were applied to the walls of the vehicle using oil paint and dragged down with a clean brush, and then MIG’s Dark mud pigment was applied around the lower areas.

Accessories

As I said earlier I wanted to display the rear doors open, since the vehicle is going to eventually be included in a much larger diorama. I also wanted it to represent an early war vehicle, and with plenty of gear inside. The two planks held in between the bridge support brackets were often placed there by the crew so that they could use the space behind to store personal gear.

Dragon do supply styrene planks, but since I had replaced the brackets with photo-etched ones they didn’t fit anyway, so I made up new ones with balsa wood. Instead of wasting parts from the spares box that couldn’t be seen through the narrow gaps anyway, instead I just stuffed tissue paper into the gaps and then soaked various shades of watery paint into them. On one side I scratched a strap which would hang down and a piece of blanket. On the inside of the vehicle I used some more tissue rolled up for blankets in the bench lockers, a couple of water canteens with lead foil straps, a rifle with strap, a couple of old helmets from the spares box, two resin back packs and a bottle of wine! The major addition was the air recognition flag which was made from fine Irish linen. I downloaded a flag from some website, which I then used to make a paper mask, and used four metal rings as eyelets. The string holding each corner is fine wire.

There you have it. A colourful 251, different from all the other 251’s I’ve built by virtue of the flag and skis!